Christianity and Film

Are you interested in the relationships between Christianity and film?  In October of 2012, Transpositions hosted a symposium on Christianity and film. Topics ranged from the cinematic poetry of Stan Brakhage (Brett Potter), to the soteriology of The Avengers (Preston Yancey), to cinema’s anamnestic function in films such as Of Gods and Men (Cole Matson). The symposium wrapped up with a book review exploring the influence of American Protestants on Hollywood.

The full schedule includes:

Monday, 29 October: ‘Visionary Film: The Apocalyptic Eye of Stan Brakhage’ – Brett Potter, PhD candidate in Theology, Art & Culture at Toronto School of Theology, reveals the cinematic poetry of director Stan Brakhage.

Wednesday, 31 October: The Avengers’ Accidental Icon’ Regular contributor Preston Yancey asks how the soteriology of The Avengers compares to the Christian soteriology presented in the film’s ‘accidental icon’.

Friday, 2 November: Of Gods and Men: Film as Liturgical Remembrance’ – In honour of All Saints’ and All Souls’, regular contributor Cole Matson examines how film can help a community remember its saints and honour its dead.

Saturday, 3 November: ‘Review: Reforming Hollywood– Regular contributor Chris Brewer reviews William Romanowski’s book Reforming Hollywood: How American Protestants Fought for Freedom at the Movies.

We hope you will join us in this examination of how Christians have interacted with film, and the potential cinema has to enrich the understanding and practice of the Christian faith.

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Author

  • Jim Watkins is the assistant editor and a regular contributor at Transpositions. Originally, Jim is from southern California and southeastern Texas, but sometimes he feels most at home in the landscape and coffee shops of the Pacific Northwest. He met his wife Emily at Wheaton College in Illinois, where he studied Studio Art (concentration in painting). For his PhD research, he is examining the relationship between divine and human creativity from the perspective of divine kenosis.